Gasadalur Faroe Islands

I have visited the Faroe Islands on numerous occasions and I always look forward to returning to these amazing islands! Gasadalur waterfall is spectacular and probably the most iconic location, I have witnessed many of it’s moods, from stormy North Atlantic conditions to balmy periods of high pressure On this occasion, I arrived a few days ahead of my Wild Light workshop guests on the Faroe Islands and it coincided with static high pressure and settled, warm weather. I had not packed any sunblock because this is the North Atlantic in April and the weather is often wet and windy. How wrong I was his time!

High pressure and settled summer weather is not ideal for the kind of long exposure, moody, misty blue-toned north Atlantic seascape images that I had expected to create. Calm conditions like this, with a clear blue sky and hot sun are more in-keeping with Mediterranean destinations, but you have to work with the conditions you have and the Firecrest 16-stop neutral density filter was utilised to smooth out the already flat calm sea with a 15 minute exposure. The image below does illustrate the truth in Formatt Hi-tech’s claim that the Firecrest coating is neutral!

A side benefit of the long exposures I was making was the opportunity to sit and watch the seabirds. Puffin, guillemot, razorbill and fulmar were all active in the cove and watching their behaviour was a perfect way to pass the time. It was simply idyllic to sit and absorb this place and I probably spent more time here than I might have done if the weather had been more like I had expected it to be!

I will say the climb back up the very steep old and broken steps from my rocky viewpoint is less problematic than descending them. Hauling camera gear and tripod down those steps required quite a bit of care, there are a lot of loose stones and gravel and a slip would be a serious incident. That said, the effort required to climb down is worth it for the better viewpoint.

Gasadalur waterfall is a mesmerising place, I look forward to returning to make more images here.